alan bechard

Not on this one Atom, I keep about 6 different styles of easy outs as some work better then others in certain situations, then every now and then, you just come across the one that is a butt whooper. Going to the Airport in an hour to pick up Dean from Germany. Man my kids got it rough...... Be at TTC tomorrow evening. One day later in life, I hope they realize how good they have it. Dean was standing around after a Trials Class over in Germany last week and the instructors were talking about the great riders of our time, and then the great teachers, and Ryan Young, and his video came up, and Dean say's, yeah, that's my Minder and trainer......... Matthias (my brother in law) says it got really quiet......

CRAP! I did not think of that one! I got it out finally, drill, tap, drill, tap, easy out the last 1/8" or so, and yep, touched the seat area and the new one will not seal..................... Came in here because I am aggravated and did not even think about a banjo bolt with bleeder in it.... Oh well, new one will be to me at TTC Monday night. Fix this one and have a spare I reckon. I was thinking of the repair kits, they use 1/8" pipe insert but Your way is probably going to be a lot cleaner. Have to get that headed my way as well. Break out the Tig and weld the hole closed....... What are my odds that the caliper will weld nice after being dunked in brake fluid for several years? guess we find out, it sure is not worth much at the moment. Really is the beauty of the BB. Wish I had read it an hour sooner! See you in a couple days or so.

So going along in the shop tonight, wrapping my bike up after having done two kids bikes swingarms, brakes etc this past week, in the home stretch, swingarm back on, throw the wheel in, thinking about this, looking at that, throw the wrench up on the bleeder and snap, shear it right off.......... Drive across town (30 minutes each way for you guys on the wrong side of the pond) to grab a spare caliper from Doug,,,,,, Pick it up, look at it, and realize the older calipers did their bleeder different! Dooohhhhhhhhh OK, driving home, think they look similar to the baby MX ones, call my buddy, hey, got a bleeder laying on the bench? Think so, come on by,,,,,, Pull out the spare cobra calipers..... dohhhhh, they are different.... well, that KTM 65 has the wheel off, take a gander, looks the same, take that one for a couple days till I can get a new one,,,, Youth camp Sunday after all,, I am cooking with gas now.... Get home, go to pull broke bleeder, no sweat hole in the middle already,,,, great, easy out here we come, damn thing won't budge! Ok, little left hand drill action, open it up, little heat from the operation bigger ez out,,,,,,, Still wont budge,,,, God, this is getting serious,,, OK, break out the heavy artillery,,, Baby mig to the rescue,,, Pop a nice little bead on there,,, Sweet, give myself high five, yep,,, I am the man, gonna whip this thing tonight,,, Bead shears off the top,,, OK, this thing is really stuck, weld another bead on,,,, Shears off, another, shears off,,,,, another ah,,, ok, there that got it spinning nice, and a plug comes out from the drilled out hole inside the bleeder (bleeder still in caliper) What the Crap is this? Start over,,, same deal, realize that they have made the dang bleeder out of some unobtanium alloy that mild steel is not sticking too,,,, Back to the left hand bits, open it up a bit, then realize, I will never know when I hit bottom, as it is tapered and tight on the bottom, and if I mar the seating face it is junk,,,,,,, Be REAL careful at this point, open it up, can't pick the threads clean, open it up some more,,,,, ok, lets tap it, can't pick up the top thread to get started..... Ahhh to heck with it, 10:30 at night, time to let that one sit and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.... So, just how much is a new caliper for an 03 Sherco? I bet I know tomorrow Some days, the mechanic gods smile, and somedays not!

Thats my son Dean. Flys back home tomorrow from a month in Germany, we go to the Youth Nationals training camp Sunday...... Man, I hope when my kids get older, they realize just how good they have it... Andy 290

He just looks so unhappy in this picture.

I have been having fairly good success lately by back bleeding. What I do, is hook up to back bleed with a large syringe I have, then while applying pressure, I crack the line on the caliper and look for clear fluid to drain off, then I crack the line on the master, and again wait for clear fluid to drain off then continue backfilling till I bring my resovoir up to the proper level. (I start with it empty) This works easily on the Sherco's as the line bolts are accessible with the master etc mounted. Last Beta I did, I believe that we had to take something loose to get access or put everything in the proper orientation for good bleeding (fluid low, air high)

Looking for those aftermarket front fender mounts that were machined from Billet and they were two pieces to make them easy to change. This used the same mounts as the 99 Techno. Anyone know where they are available at? The bike is in Germany, so a European mail order site woudl be great. Thanks. Al Bechard

Bleed, Bleed and uh, bleed again.

Hmm, probably poorly said on my part. But yes, in my opinion Pat should sign up. Added on edit, I was thinking along the lines of the times when pat rode / competed in the event, as in, these folks have come up, and competed at this event. To see the last 2 years results, and the names associated with them, go here. http://64.112.136.190/youth/ Possibly there will be someone that you recognize (back to Stings question about levels) and you can extrapolate their score, and their lines against your childs abilities. Do remember that the youngsters abilties at the years event that you are looking at on the link, has probably improved somewhat to the present time.

The problem though (as when setting any event) is to find the right level of difficulty. Because there are some kids scoring clean rides, does not mean that the level missed, (many times it means that the kids competing that age bracket are excellent) it is one of the downfalls of having an age based Youth Nationals. One of those same children (line 2)also competed his first regular National event at the last event (TTC National round). Some of the age brackets have some really excellent riding kids in them that could ride more difficult lines, but as this event is set around age, that is the appropriate line for them to compete on. I would call line 2 about the level that we would call about Sportsman in STRA, maybe with some Advanced in there. Line 1 I would call STRA Advanced, with maybe some expert stuff thrown in as well (right at the top of my skill level maybe above) Line 0 (highest line) I would say STRA expert / champ type sections. The likes of Pat Smage, Louise Forsley, Cody Manning, Alex Bedley find themselves challenged and competing there.

Hmmmm, not sure how to answer your questions, and to be honest, not really sure what all your questions are. You should review here probably, http://www.trialstrainingcenter.com/html/events.html This is my perspective though. The Youth Nationals technically is the 3 day event coming up. It is three seperate days of competition for Youth here in the US. The three seperate competions are each awarded finishing points, and then the youth in that age group with the most points is the overall winner (of that age group) for the "Youth Nationals" There is also a "Youth Camp" the week prior to the YN. Many of us kind of roll that camp into the deal when we refer to the YN. So the things we talk about, trip to the farm, swiming at the falls, Canoe trip, fireworks, etc. etc. are Technically part of the Youth Camp, but to me it all just gets rolled in together. As to a timid 12 year old mid pack novice, he would ride the line appropriate for his age (lines in the Youth National are primarily based on age) There is a bit of difficulty as I am sure you are aware from the other posts here on this board defining what a "mid pack Novice" means. Or in any way quantifying riding levels when you travel outside your club. A 12 year old (Jan 1st of the year) would ride line 2. You may find line 2 a little tough. My daughter rides line 2 and she is a good Int rider (one level above Nov in STRA) or a bottom of the pack Sportsman (level above Int in STRA) You and your child alwas have the choice of riding Exhibition and riding "out of class" such as if you go look at the line 2, and think, no way, that scares the beejeebus out of me, they can ride down a class as E. For example my daughter should ride line 1 by age, but is not at that level. It would not be safe, nor would it be fun for her to compete on the 1 line. She will ride womens class, but in years past where there was only 2 days of womens competition, she would ride exhibition line 2 as that was appropriate for her skill level. The best part too me about the YN, and again, it is probably actually more the preceeding camp, is that there is a large group of youngsters that get to interact with each other, and ride with each other, and push each other forward. There is some group dynamic there that gets the kids to do stuff, and to progress far quicker then when they are around just adults. If you could only do one part, the Youth Camp provides some great benefit to the kids. I would really suggest though that you do both as the competition lets your child evaluate where they are in comparison to others of the same age from across the country. As to the Youth Invitational, I guess I do not get your frame of reference. Consider yourself, and your child personnally invited to come down and join us and have a great time, while improving their trials skills and meeting some great folks.

Anyone that cares to sample is always welcome at cabin 5. Even Lane but I think something came up now. (not even trying to be a smart @rse)

Mark, is DC-4 a "tune up" type dielectric silicone grease? Did one yesterday on Ben's bike, had to go back in and realized I had gotten carried away tightening the valve stem without spacer and popped the band back out right by the stem. Loosened it up, reset the band and everything seems to be working fine. I am using this "gaithers" brand of tire lube right now. Seems to work really well. Got it to do the tractors, has that penetrating action to get between the tractor beads before you start hammering on them. Made it slick enough I put the tire back on the rim twice without tools. Yet dries in about the time I get everything seated. I still want to see those guys that are seating these things at 35 psi. They are sure doing something that I am missing.

Is that even a question??? Little relaxing in the evening as the kids are off and playing, oh, it sounds terrible By the way, Hanna looked at an 05 4X4 dually, 3500, 4 door, cummins, loaded, 22K miles.... Only $34K I think the burb needs to go another 200K miles at this rate. Those things any cheaper in your neck of the woods?

Because we do not know your name is Jamie or Jay until you type it, but everybody is hey JOE.

Maybe because "bikerdude2006fr" takes a lot longer to type then Jay?

As I have not ben successful, I do not know if I should offer advice, but I will anyway I have tried a number of things (read line 1 though) but the most promising thing, and it makes the most sense to me, is to take a shopping cart, and push it around, as you progress, you can push it forward, then ride up to it and catch your balance again. Some things I will add. It seems much easier on the Trials Uni's with the fat tires. I tried with the sticks (canes) and damn near impaled myself. I thought it would be easier in the grass (slower) but do better on the street. Unicycle.com says that it takes about 40 hours. I believe them. I know the kids took about that long, but they do not think it did because they were pushing each other, and having a good time.

The door of my house has a sign, that Say's QUICK, Teenagers! Move out while you still know everything!

While I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, you may wish to look here. I like the next couple rules in the real version as well. http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm But I personally like this one the best. And there is more truth in it then not which makes it a really great story as well. http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp

Steve Ahlers?

When I am working with very young kids, I tend to play a lot of "come to me" Where I walk a couple steps forward (not far at first, like 5') and then say.... After that I had some paddles, Red light, green light. Get them used to starting and stopping and working the controls. Always had a lot more problems getting the boys to learn throttle control then the girls. Good luck, it can be some really fun times.

Close enough! GOOOOOOO JAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKEEEEEEE

Hmmmmmm,,,,, When I look at the front page here http://www.todotrial.com/ttactual/indexttactual.htm I don't see him. I think folks tend to cheer for folks like themselves. I just keep looking for the Redneck fat guy to cheer for in WTC.

I am not sure if I am allowed to speak to Bandwith Theives.....

Probably because it is moving too fast for them too keep up with running in heels..... Got it now. Although I think it is a little like my telling my BIL that I was "chicken" of something (Scared) In Germany, you are scared like a Hasse (rabbit) not a chicken